Light Up Dark Stairs with the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light

We make a great Stair Light, but sometimes people need to light an entire stairway without wires. Such was the case with Vivian who called me today.

Vivian is the funny aunt that everyone wishes they had. She can make anything sound funny, especially with her classic New York accent. She called because she has a dark staircase leading down to her cellar. She is a big fan of Costco and BJ's Warehouse Clubs, and loves to cook, so when she goes to the warehouse clubs she loads up on canned foods, spices, olive oil and other ingredients. Her husband added storage by installing shelves on the dark stairs down to the basement. But the stairs are too dark for her to see what items are on the shelves. So Vivian called us looking for a solution to light up her dark stairs.

Our solution for dark stairs is the wireless Mr. Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light. The wireless Mr Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light uses a bright LED from Nichia that provides 80 lumens of light. This is significantly brighter than the tap lights from years ago, and so much brighter than the LED puck lights that are sold in places like Bed, Bath & Beyond. Better yet, the Mr Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light has a motion detector, so whenever Vivian opens her cellar door, the bright LED goes on. It also has an auto shut off, so after Vivan closes the basement door, the Ceiling Light counts down 30 seconds and then automatically shuts off. One Mr Beams battery-powered LED Ceiling Light should last more than 3,200 activations on one set of C batteries - which is 3 years of wireless lighting on one set of batteries under normal use.

Vivian had called an electrician, who quoted her $240 to install a basic ceiling light to light her cellar steps. Then he didn't show up. So Vivian called Mr. Beams. We sent her the the wireless Mr. Beams Ceiling Light, the brightest and best wireless light for lighting up stairways, closets, pantries, basements attics and garages. Vivian will be able to install the Ceiling Light by herself in minutes, and whenever she opens her cellar door, the motion sensor LED light will light up the stairs so she can tell her tomato paste from her tomato sauce.

More ideas to light up the dark areas of your home are available at www.mrbeams.com

How Bright are LED Lights vs. Incandescent Bulbs and CFLs?

The typical incandescent light – bulb or spotlight – uses between 40W and 100W. We always are asked how our Mr. Beams Wireless LED Lights compare to these incandescent bulbs and spotlights. My first response is that the Mr. Beams Wireless LED Lights don’t use any electricity. These motion sensor LED lights are battery operated, and completely off the grid. And they should make your batteries last at least a year under typical use.

But what people are really asking is this: “How bright are your wireless LED lights?” My old wired outside lights used to have 60W and 75W incandescent bulbs. These lights put out anywhere from 800 lumens to 1100 lumens. What is a lumen? Think of a lumen as a volume of light – similar to paint. If you have 128 ounces of yellow paint, you can cover one side of your house with a light coating of color or a smaller section of the side of your house with a darker coating of color. Light is similar, and lumens is a measure of the total output of light. If that amount of light is concentrated by using a lens (known as optics) then the light will cover less area but be more intense where the light is covering and thus appear brighter. That measurement is lux. What is lux? Lux is the intensity of the light on a surface. Of course, if you start with very little light in the first place, the idea of brightness (in this case light intensity, or lux) will never be achieved, no matter what optics are used to increase brightness.

Light bulbs are high on lumens but lower on lux. The light from a light bulb is emitted in every direction, so the intensity on any one surface (the lux) is never as high as a spotlight. A spotlight takes the same number of lumens (think how much total paint in the can) and concentrates it into an areas about one-third that of a light bulb. Therefore the lux of an incandescent spotlight can be three times greater than the lux of an incandescent light bulb. So how bright does a light need to be for it to be useful to you?

We will focus this blog entry on outdoor lighting. As mentioned before, my house had all 60W and 75W incandescent bulbs and incandescent spotlights to achieve what I thought was the right amount of light. I was wrong because I did not take into account the fact that the human eye adjusts to darkness. Once the human eye is adjusted to darkness, a very low light level is adequate. I’m saying that 100 lumens is more than adequate to light up an area effectively.

In five minutes you can install a battery powered Mr. Beams Motion Sensor Security LED Spotlight and have 140 lumens of light. The photo of our battery operated LED Motion Sensor Security Spotlight shows how much light 140 lumens provides. You can read by 100 lumens if it is concentrated with optics. You can choose clothes in a closet. You can scare someone or something away with the light provided by all Mr. Beams wireless LED lights.

So if you need light right now - for a quick solution for security lighting, as a lighting solution to prevent falls, or as a solution to light a closet - the light provided by Mr. Beams wireless motion sensor LED lights will give you enough lux to provide security lighting, safety lighting and convenience lighting. Mr. Beams battery powered lights will also provide the best wireless lighting for security, safety and convenience. Wireless lighting will save you money because you can install it yourself without an electrician and move the light exactly where you need it. For the best quick, wireless security lighting, look to Mr. Beams wireless LED lights and be confident that the light is bright enough for the security, safety and convenience that you require in your lighting.

LED Lighting is a Better Choice for a Motion Sensor Light than CFL Lighting

LED lighting is a better option for a motion sensor light than a compact fluorescent because the life of a CFL light could be greatly shortened by regular turning on and off. The Mr Beams Motion Sensor LED lights will trigger when motion is detected. When motion is no longer detected, a timer is started inside the light. Depending on the product, the light will turn off automatically within a minute or so.

For example, the Mr Beams MB980 Anywhere Ceiling Light will auto shutoff in 60 seconds after motion is no longer detected. Depending on the application, the light may turn on 10 to 20 times a day if not more. The normal life of a CFL bulb may be 6,000 hours however this can be reduced by up to 85 percent when turned on and off quickly and often. To meet the 6,000 hour life span, a CFL should be on three hours or more. Also, it takes more than three minutes for a CFL to begin working efficiently.

Another application where CFLs are not effective is in a car garage. Garages experience extremes in temperature and tend to go on and off frequently. CFLs will wear out quickly in a garage due to the constant on and off and high heat and low temperatures. We recommend a Mr. Beams Motion Sensor LED Spotlight to light a garage. Mr. Beams wireless lights install in minutes. The Mr. Beams Motion Sensor LED Spotlight is designed with a motion sensor to go on and off frequently. The durable LED holds up to all temperature extremes, is vibration resistant and can go on and off up to 3,200 times on one set of batteries.

CFLs are good for certain applications but when it comes to motion sensor lights similar to Mr Beams LED lights, it is best to look for a light source that is well made for the application. LEDs do not have the same limitations as CFLs and it makes them better suited to be controlled by a motion sensor. The best solution for a motion sensor light are LED lights. The best wireless LED lights are made by Mr. Beams and are far more durable than CFLs.

Light Up Your Garage with Wireless Lights from Mr. Beams

We have 6 light bulbs in our garage. 2 each on the garage door openers and two exposed bulbs in the ceiling. When these light bulbs are working we have a brightly lit garage. However, they are never working. The vibration of the garage opening combined with the cold winter in Northeast Ohio and our tendency to forget to turn the garage light off at night limits the life of these bulbs to less than 3 months. I got tired of moving the cars out, getting the ladders, cleaning off the dead bugs and stretching to reach the bulbs.

My solution to lighting up my garage is wireless LED lighting. Specifically the battery powered lights from Mr. Beams. In less time than it takes to change a light bulb, I easily installed the MB360 LED Security Spotlight on the wall. Once the large garage door opens, this battery operated LED motion sensor Spotlight turns on and lights up the entire garage. Even better, this wireless LED light also lights up when I open the garage door to take out the trash. And because it has auto shut-off, I never have to open the door to check if I left the light on.

My second solution to lighting up my garage is to install the MB980 Battery Operated Anywhere LED Ceiling Light from Mr. Beams. Again, this wireless LED light installs in minutes. The Mr. Beams Wireless LED Ceiling Light gives off bright LED light as soon as it detects motion. So when I open the door to go into my dark garage, the Wireless LED Ceiling Light detects my motion and turns on. The bright light is as useful as light from light bulbs. But it is more efficient, does not use energy (off the grid), and can last more than 2 years on one set of batteries. Once I leave the garage, this wireless auto shut-off LED light turns off and stays off.

More wireless LED lighting solutions are available at www.mrbeams.com

Review of the Best Wireless Night Light from Mr. Beams

We made the claim that Mr. Beams makes the very best wireless LED night light available. HEre are just some of the reviews that we have received from customers who used the Mr. Beams Stick Anywhere Night Light as the solution for dark hallways, solution for dark stairs and the solution for dark outdoor steps. Customers have installed the Mr. Beams wireless LED night light in minutes and have helped to prevent falls and make their homes safer.

Greg, New York, NY
The motion sensor has a wide angle, and as i walk down my hall, the lights light up when i get within four feet (like an 80-degree angle) away, which is great. They light up at night, at dusk, at dawn, and when it's grey & cloudy like today. Yesterday was sunny, even (sort of) in my hallway, and they detected that and didn't light up.

So for about $50 (forty for the lights, ten for the batteries) i now have illumination in my hallway, my kids aren't scared of walking down it, my parents & in-laws need not worry about tripping

Sarah, Plymouth, MN
These little LED motion lights are perfect for what I bought them for: to light up the small room/area where I keep the cats' little box and as a night light for the bathroom. The motion detection is super sensitive and the light detection is also pretty sensitive.

Annie, California
I have the night lights going up my stairs. Since there are no plugs, these were perfect. They work awesome after turning off the tv and trying to walk upstairs in total darkness.

Katherine, New Paltz, NY
These are the Best lights. I have them on my stairs, and near the master bathroom. No more turning on a big light in the middle of the night, or fumbling for the light switch. Our stair light is thirty feet up and we can’t replace it. These work perfectly.

Richard, Charlotte, NC
Purchased this to put in a stairway which is very dark at night. It is fantastic. It took 5 minutes to install. We should have done this long ago.

Marcia, Piscataway, NJ
An excellent product, just what I needed. They solve the problem of no outlet where a motion sensor is needed, and if I don't mount them I can shift them around to get the light just right.

Thomas, Katy, TX
Nobody notices that the lights are there during the day (we used them to iluminate the stairs), but at night they are a nice safety feature to have for anyone that needs to use the stairs. I recommend this product to anyone that wants to enhance the safety within the house (stairs, walkway, passageway or any other area) and still maintain a nice balanced "look" inside your home.

Light Up Your Basketball Court with Mr. Beams Wireless Spotlights

December is basketball season. I am reminded of shoveling the snow and chipping the ice off my driveway in Longmeadow, Massachusetts so we could play 2-on-2 in the winter. Unfortunately, the games were always cut short by 4:30 pm darkness. That is if they were not already cut short by a fight after Sam Radner called a foul after barely being touched.

At Mr. Beams, we have a product that is the perfect solution to light up outdoor basketball courts. The Mr. Beams Wireless LED Spotlight should be renamed the “wireless outdoor basketball court light.” The Mr. Beams Wireless LED Spotlight can attach to any backboard, tree, pole or anywhere on your house in minute. A wireless light means no electrician, no wires and do-it-yourself installation. You can also move the Wireless Spotlight whenever you need to. At $40 it is a much cheaper light that installing a wired light to light your outdoor basketball court. This is why we claim to have the best light for an outdoor basketball court. Simply install batteries to power this light, drive one screw to attach the base and you can play basketball well into the night. This LED Spotlight is also available with a remote control to turn the wireless lights on and off from inside your house.

I think that our next Mr. Beams battery powered wireless LED light will have a camera in it so you can replay that weak foul call made by your friend.

The Best Wireless Lighting Solutions

Wireless Lighting. Sounds like a dream. The idea of sticking a light wherever you need it and having light for closets, showers, driveways, hallways, bathrooms, sheds and garages is a fantasy. No more electricians. Because they are wireless, you take them with you when you move and can move them anywhere you need.

Now Wireless Lighting is available from Mr. Beams. We had the dream of lights that can be attached anywhere without electricians back in 2003. Not junky tap lights, that give off a light glow and burn out in a few hours. That's not the wireless lighting solution that we wanted. We wanted wireless lighting solutions that gave bright light, turned on and off automatically, was hands-free, and provided this wireless light for more than one year on a set of batteries.

The solution required a combination of many technologies to create the best wireless lighting solutions. LEDs are used to maximize the battery power. Motion Sensors are used for hands-free automatic lighting. Auto shut-off is programmed to conserve the battery life. And battery power is used to make the Mr. Beams lights wireless.

The Mr. Beams products provide the best Wireless Lighting solutions in four different shapes and brightnesses. The Stick Anywhere Night Light is the wireless LED light that attaches to a wall or stands up on its own. It is a great wireless solution to light a path to your bathroom and prevent falls. The Stair Light is an indoor / outdoor light that mounts to a deck post or stairway wall. It lights up stairs without wires, using a motion sensor to activate. It has a glow feature so you always know where the light is. This battery-operated wireless light will last at least one year on one set of batteries. The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light is the best solution for a closet light anywhere. Because it is wireless It mounts in minutes in your closet, attic or shed. Because the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light is weatherproof, it is the best wireless lighting solution for a shower, porch or gazebo. The Mr. Beams Spotlight is the best wireless light solution for all of your outdoor areas. Stick it to a tree for lighting up a backyard, driveway or basketball court. Light up doorways, garages and barns. Because it is wireless you can install it yourself in minutes and move it whenever you need to.

So wireless lights are now a reality at Mr. Beams. We exist to create the best wireless lighting solutions to eliminate darkness. We welcome your ideas for battery-powered light designs. Please let us know how we can help you create better wireless lights by writing us at info@mrbeams.com.